After building an appropriate amount of internet drama about it, Sean from Bikes and Beards, Craig from The Bearded Mechanic, and Paul Sr from your childhood cable TV reality show upbringing (and also, his own YouTube channel in the modern era) are now in the midst of their charity bike build-off.
When we last checked in with the trio, Sean had dug up the crispiest, most fire-damaged Triumph you'd ever want to see for dirt cheap on FB Marketplace.
You know the feeling where, no matter what a screaming deal you think you got, you realize you probably paid too much after you look more closely? It's absolutely one of those situations.
Part of the charm and challenge of this Build-Off is that all three participants polled their YT audiences about what region of the world their chosen base bikes should hail from. Paul Sr. got Japan, Sean got Europe, and Craig got America.
For Sean, who doesn't really do much wrenching, a bike from anywhere is probably a challenge. But for Paul Sr., who knows American iron inside and out, having to work on a build with a Japanese bike as its base is an interesting proposition.
Craig isn't a bike builder, per se, but he is at least a trained motorcycle mechanic. Still, his wheelhouse is Japanese bikes, so working on something American is a challenge for him, as well.
In fact, his time at the Motorcycle Mechanics Institute is something he mentions after revealing the actual bike he's going to be using as his base for this challenge, because that was where he first saw this model in person. So, what did he choose?
It had to be $3,000 or less, so most of what he was finding that fit the bill were all different Harley Sportster variants. Craig, though, was hoping for something a little more interesting than that.
In the end, he ended up talking a seller he was already acquainted with into knocking a few hundred bucks off a 2005 Harley V-Rod.
It's an interesting choice for sure. Developed in cooperation with Porsche (though who contributed what percentage of the development work is something you'll find differing reports on, depending on where you look), it was a radical departure from the norm for Harley. While liquid cooling is no longer completely strange to see in their lineup, back at its 2002 introduction, it was a veritable Revolution.
Plenty of folks who bought V-Rods loved them, but plenty of the more traditionally-minded Harley fans were upset by the change.
Still, the V-Rod represented a wildly divergent branch on the Harley family tree, and one where the company tried to do something a bit different. And that's really where the intrigue in Craig's project lies.
Although he says he's not looking for loopholes in the rules, Craig's very reasonable take on this bike is that, if he removes parts and sells them on, any money he makes can go back into the build. I mean, if you've ever worked on any type of project yourself, that's just basic Moto-Math™.
How will it go? Craig says he's starting this 5-week project a week behind, and that he'll be out of town for about 2.5 additional weeks. So, uh, stay tuned?
